Strange Magic
by Alykazaam
Summary: After waking up from a nightmare in the infirmary, Levy makes a confession to Makarov about her connection to Gajeel Redfox. Feeling conflicted about her feelings Makarov asks that she try to remember that night in detail. But with a little magic, Levy explains that she could do better than that, she could relive it as an observer. M for a scene containing violence.


**This is a work of fanfiction. All characters and locations are intentionally based off of the creative works of another artist or author by a creative fan expressing their own headcanon. The original artist/storyteller being Hiro Mashima.**

 **Author's note: there is a scene involving a bit of violence and I do not want to trigger anyone. I promise there is no gore, and nothing sexually graphic in nature.**

It was quiet in the infirmary at Magnolia Hospital, all except for the rhythmic ticking of a wooden clock by the door. Three beds filled the spacious room and in those three beds lay the first casualties of the guild war that was currently ravaging the city: two young men and a woman of the same age, the three team members of Fairy Tail's backbone team known to most as Shadow Gear.

The door creaks, opening to reveal an old man of short stature as he entered the room. He wore the signature white coat of the Ten Wizard Saints; a coat he only wore to Magic Council meetings, but today his reason was different. Today he planned to wear this very coat into battle. To fight for his very children whom lay unconscious in these three beds. Jose Porla would know the power of the Wizard Saint Makarov Dreyar, the leader of Fairy Tail, and to what extent that power would be used when it comes to protecting his precious children.

Makarov furrowed his brow, and sighed as he pulled up a chair next to the young woman. Bandages were wrapped around her forehead, arms and upper body, covering the scarring damage that the nefarious Black Steel Gajeel Redfox had inflicted on her before crucifying her and her two friends to the great oak tree in Magnolia's town square.

"Hmm, it seems we both have seen turbulent days, my child," he said to her quietly in the silent room; recalling his brush with death after Aria used his Drain Spell to steal his magic and nearly all of his life force with it. "But mark my words, Levy, I'll put an end to all of this for you, Jet, Droy, and the rest of the Fairy Tail Guild."

"...No."

Levy began to toss and turn in the bed as she began to mutter in her slumber, "please, Gajeel...stop this..."

Makarov tried to console the young mage as her struggling grew violent, raising her voice, calling out to her assailant from the dream realm.

"Don't do this! Please...no...Gajeel...I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!" Levy rose from her shout and sat up with lightening speed. Her head darted around, gathering in her surroundings. No longer was she by the oak tree in the Town Square, no longer was she fighting in the night; she was safe and sound in a bed, the sunshine raining into the room from the large bay windows to her left.

When she saw her Guild Master's surprised gaze on her a flood of tears began to fall from her eyes; unsure if she was relieved to see a familiar face or fearful of the confession she had shouted aloud about her connection to the enemy. Levy buried her head in her hands as she continued to sob loudly.

Seeing one of his children like this made Makarov even more desperate to end this war as soon as he possibly could.

"There, there, child," his voice was gruff with the weight of all his troubles. "That dark night has long since passed. You need not to worry about this any longer. I shall avenge you, your brothers of Shadow Gear and the rest of the Guild very soon."

As Levy wiped away her tears with her hand she lay the other in her lap. Makarov's weathered hand gently patted it and held it tight. His warm hands, soft with age, were comforting in a way that made the blue haired mage feel as if the entire guild was holding her in a loving embrace.

She placed her hand on top of his after drying her tears and sighed, she needed to tell Makarov everything.

"Master Makarov...about the man who did this..."

"My dear, do not worry for he will be dealt with along with the rest of the Phanto-."

"No!" Levy interrupted he guild master, which was unheard of to Makarov. She, out of most of the Guild, had the best manners in conversation. "You don't understand, the man who did this, I know him...at least I thought I did."

Makarov was again shocked at what he was hearing. And the sorrow that darkened her golden eyes told him that this relationship she had with Gajeel may have been more than what she was willing to admit.

"Hmm," the old man was careful with what he was about to say. "My Child, matters of the heart can make warring factions friends and can end the greatest conflict. Sadly, sometimes fate deals us a cruel hand and we must sit in the darkness despite wanting to reach out for the light."

His words took Levy by surprise but it still did not ease her broken, troubled heart.

"Levy, do you care about this man? And, if you do not mind, would you tell me about how you two crossed paths?"

Through her tears Levy quietly nodded her head and explained her and Gajeel's history.

"There was a mission I had taken alone in Dennish a couple months ago. He and one of his guild mates, a woman with the most peculiar water magic, saved me from a gang of bandits that I stole an old codex from, as retrieving it was part of my mission. Hmph," she quietly chuckled to herself, "He said that he had never met someone was wreck-less and stupid as himself. For a few days the three of us had traveled his hometown and had our own adventure there.

"The Rain Woman, as she called herself, left the day before he and I parted ways." A nostalgic smile began to curl on her lip and shine through her morose. Makarov began to feel her joy sprouting upon recalling her memories in the City of Bandits. "Grandpa, if I had lived my whole life without knowing or having magic within me, I would have believed it was real after that wonderful night, he sang for me and I danced to his songs!

"He told me of his search for his father, which was why he and his friend were in Dennish. He would always stop there after every long term mission, just in case he finally came back. I told him of how I lost my own parents and how you found me stealing food and books in the slums of Magnolia."

The script mage slowly lay down again and sighed in a way that sounded more like a swoon. Remembering details too private to discuss with anyone, let alone her adopted Grandfather. Her hand clenched tightly to her chest as if to grab her aching heart within to soothe its ache.

"When he finally saw my guild mark, I saw pain in his eyes as he made me promise to let him take me away from the guild war when it began. He knew my loyalty was to Fairy Tail, but he wanted to keep me from being a casualty at all cost. And with that promise he gave me a piece of him to remember him by, but when we parted ways he took a part of me with him. To this very moment I am unsure of he realized that he stole my heart in no better place than the City of Bandits."

Levy's words trailed off into silence as her eyes grew distant, far off into the safe place in her memories of the Bandit City. Pondering how on Earthland could the same man who showed her that anyone can fall in love be the same man that committed such deplorable deeds to her and her friends?

"My dear," Makarov's voice pulled her back into the sunny room in the infirmary, "I can see in your eyes, and feel in my own heart, the infatuation you have with this man." He ruffled her sky blue hair and brought his small hand to her cheek. "So what I am about to ask you may be quite difficult, but I need you to remember every detail you can of the night he did this to you and Shadow Gear."

Levy flinched at the very thought of the night in question. She despised the thought of reliving that night in her memory. But understanding Makarov's reason for the request she herself had to know what happened that fateful night. She wanted to see his face without adrenaline fogging her logic and attention to detail.

She decided she would use the same memory techniques that Mest taught her, upon her request, since she returned from Dennish. A simple exercise to use of one's magical essence to place themselves into a past memory. She had used it almost every night since she fell for the Dragonslayer.

"Alright, I'll do it, better yet, I'll place myself in my own memory from that night." Levy's cheeks grew rosy as she looked away bashfully, "I learned how to do this to relive my time in Dennish, but I am sure if I concentrate enough I can exist separately in the memory as an observer!"

"No need to make yourself uncomfortable on my part, Child, but time is of the essence," Makarov's ancient features grew stern and his eyes became cold and focused as remember the ongoing battle at the Guild Hall.

"Alright, it'll take a moment for me to get my breathing right. But once I have 'gone in' don't be alarmed, just wait for me to come back." Levy smiled at her Guild master with assuring eyes as she sat up into a meditative position and began to take slow deep breaths until she seemed to fall asleep.

She felt her spirit fall into darkness, deep into her memories; her free fall continuing until the night of the attack on Shadow Gear came into focus. Opening her astral eyes, Levy looked around and recognized the scenery, she had made it to her destination.

It was a clear night, the moon and stars had cast a shimmering blue light on the town square. Ahead of the mage's spirit, were Jet, Droy, and herself walking the cobblestone streets on the lookout for anyone suspicious. Levy looked up at the rooftops remembering the direction Gajeel had ambushed them from, sure enough, she spotted a shadow creep out of the darkness. Gajeel's features revealed by the blue light of the evening as he walked quietly along the stone gutters like a cat on the prowl. Levy saw his body language admit to her that he was hesitant at first but upon looking back to her friends and her past self she could count down the seconds before he lunged down at the trio.

It was just as she remembered in her nightmares, Droy went down first when the Dragonslayer of Iron landed a blow as he descended from what seemed like the sky itself. As Jet immediately called out to Levy to run he was pummeled by an Iron pillar that extended from Gajeel's arm.

"So," a growl that dripped with rage and, now that Levy heard it once more, jealousy emitted from their assailant. "This is how it's gonna be, huh?"

"Gajeel! What are you-" The blunette heard herself shout with fear in her own voice.

"You _know_ this bastard, Levy!?" Droy grunted loudly at his teammate, wide eyed with the discovery, before being kicked in the abdomen hard enough to send him rolling a few feet away leaving him coughing and gasping for air.

"You shut up if y'know what's good for ya!" Gajeel spat out, the venom lingering in his words. He turned to Levy, his eyes emanating rage from his fiery red irises. Since taking notice of his jealousy, Levy's astral self took note of the lack of discipline in his fighting style compared to the fights he had in Dennish. It was as if the Dragonslayer had become unhinged. "I came here t'make good on th' promises we made in Dennish 'n' take out Shadow Gear for Phantom Lord! Only t'find ya on this _date_ with these losers!" The fury in Gajeel's voice grew as he stomped over to Droy to violently kick him once more launching him into the stone surface of a nearby building. Droy groaned loudly as he sustained a painful injury from the impact before collapsing on the cobblestone street unconscious.

"No! Gajeel, you idiot! It's not like that at all!"

"Well what th' hell is it then!?"

"We are Shadow Gear!" Levy's memory screamed into the night, rendering her opponent wide eyed and speechless with her confession.

The Phantom Lord mage stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity before his skin turned from scarred tanned flesh, that once held her so tenderly yet firm, into iron scales while walking over to her. In that moment Levy recalled just how small she really was before she began to plead with him. Her pleas falling on deaf ears.

"Gajeel, what are you doing?" Levy stammered with a shaking voice as fear clawed throughout her insides, "Please talk to me! You don't have to-"

"Gihi, yer right," He laughed at her quietly with his signature snicker, but it was masked with malicious intent Levy could hardly call it a laugh. But hearing it once more, it sounded so forced. "I _don't have_ ta do anything. I shoulda followed my instinct 'n' stole ya away at th' train station back in Dennish! And y'shoulda ran when ya had the chance t'night, little girl, cause what I _want_ now is ta hear ya scream!" His steps toward her were slow and heavy like that of a man who had lost everything and had finally gone mad. His iron skin shimmered under the moonlight, if Levy was unaware of what was about to unfold, she would have called those shining scales beautiful.

This was it, Black Steel Gajeel, the monster of Phantom Lord, stopped and stood inches from the Fairy Tail mage both past and present, as Levy had moved her spirit next to herself with an urgent need to look into the eyes of the man who claimed he loved her and nearly broke her. What she saw as he looked down at her made her bring her hands to her mouth. These were not the bright eyes of a man with blood-lust, they were dark and hollow. They were the eyes of a broken man. Even his scowl was one of impending regret than that if the sadistic smirk she had seen in her nightmares. And she recalled one of the last things she heard him say.

"Gajeel, please, what about Dennish?" she heard herself plead one last time with him. She remembered crying knowing that he was about to make a horrendous mistake, "Don't you know that I-"

"What about it?"Gajeel interrupted her with a cold hiss of a jilted lover, bringing back the sharp sting in her chest that overwhelmed her the first time she heard him utter those three words in the quiet Fiorian night before he struck her in the ribs with an iron fist, breaking a few with one blow. Her calculating mind observed how his voice covered up what his eyes could not. The script mage realized that the timing of his interruption could possibly have been intentional. That if she had told him she loved him, he may have stopped himself from doing what, unfortunately, he was commanded to do. She was no longer Levy, the mage thief he met in Dennish, she was just another Fairy that needed to be made an example of, and it was tearing him apart. His only mercy he could bestow her were the open handed blows he dealt. Levy watched him strike her memory throughout the agonizing beating, making her stomach churn as she continued her investigation.

The one sided battle raged on before Black Steel dragged the three limp bodies of team Shadow Gear to the great oak tree that marked the center of town square as his iron hide faded back into human skin. Easily hoisting up each member to the tree to nail them to it's surface as a warning to their fellow guild mates. First Droy, then Jet, leaving a wide space to crucify the one who endured the most of his fury and stood the longest of the three. He would have never guessed the small woman was the very leader of the Flagship team of the Guild that rivaled his own for strongest and most popular. Levy watched him and though he was harsh and uncaring of her two closest friends, he handled her broken body with a remorseful tenderness , trying to be gentle knowing that the time for that was far too late.

The Gajeel who nailed her to the great oak with utmost care was no longer the boastful brute she encountered in Dennish, there was no doubt in her heart and mind that she was looking at a man whose spirit was shattered and harbored guilt so heavy he was being crushed by its weight on his shoulders. Levy's heart was breaking all over again at the very sight.

After carefully nailing one of her slender bruised arms to the bark of the oak, Gajeel stopped, eyes wide as she reached out and with a bloody hand touched his cheek softly just as she did in Dennish after they fell to the throws of passion and made love. Levy's eyes were glazed over and staring blankly into a concussive dream as she said the same words that shook him to his very core the first time she whispered them to him. Only instead of a loving whisper, she spoke through desperate shallow breaths.

"Gajeel...I know you're...A good man. I...wouldn't be...here in this...moment...if you...weren'..."

Unable to finish the last word, her eyes rolled into the back of her head as her body went limp. As her hand fell from his cheek, the small mage left a streak of blood on his skin, the smell was overwhelming, causing Gajeel to tremble violently with regret as his eyes grew glossy with fresh tears. With an unsteady hand he nailed her other arm to the oak tree and placed the guild stamp of Phantom Lord sloppily onto her soft belly that was now scratched and blotched with blues and yellows from the fresh bruises on her fair skin. After he finished his Guild's mission, he turned around and staggered away from the disaster he left behind, knowing it would forever follow closely behind him.

As he memory began to fade into darkness, Levy noticed the her former self remained, nailed to the oak, with a peculiar red strand tied onto the palm of her hand that had reached out to Gajeel just moments before. The ribbon that was not there before was a red so vibrant she would have believed it to be forged from magic. Levy followed the path of the magic thread, leading her into the darkness as she abandoned her memory of that night in Magnolia's town square. She walked on for what seemed like hours, following the red strand that she believed to be of celestial origin, until she no longer was wandering through the dark. She was walking down a dark and rainy street in Oak Town until she saw Gajeel standing in the rain; the thread tied to the palm of his hand as the other end was tied to hers.

Levy walked up to Gajeel's massive form, soaked to the bone as if he had been standing in the downpour for hours. He stood so still that as she came close to him, Levy swore she could see his heart pulsing from deep in his chest. His long unruly hair was so drenched with water that it hung slack and clung to his face and body. His eyes, red as garnets were glazed over as he stared blankly in front of him. Even his iron studs that decorated his sharp angled features were beginning to rust, leaving red orange trails down his face and arms.

"Gajeel, my friend, what are you doing outside in Juvia's rain?!" A familiar voice cried out belonging to a woman with blue hair that curled at the nape of her neck, wearing light blue cotton pajamas that hid her curvy figure. She leaned out of the second story window to her apartment before returning in and exiting from a door next to the window that lead to a small balcony with a flight of iron stairs that trailed down to the street.

As she quickly stepped down to the street Gajeel quickly looked away from his friend, Juvia then grabbed his biceps in an attempt to softly jostle him back to reality, "say something, Gajeel, you're acting peculiar!" She searched around as if someone should have been with him.

"Gajeel, where is Miss Levy?"

Upon hearing his lost love's name, Gajeel was thrown out of his trance, he grabbed Juvia's Shoulders and slammed her into the brick wall behind her with an audible thump as she hit the wall with her back.

"Don't say her name!" His eyes glowed under the streetlight a bright red with fury, baring his fangs at his closest friend with a snarl. Juvia stared at him with dark ominous eyes like the clouds she conjured above them. She had to ease her own anger that rose in her chest toward her friend for handling her like a rag doll. Gajeel was in deep pain like she had never witnessed and more than anything the rain woman wanted to help him.

Gajeel's features softened upon the realization of his actions and loosened his tight grip on her shoulders and lowered his head in shame of what he was about to confide in his comrade. "I went ta find her before my mission ta take out that Shadow Gear team. I saw her walking with two men 'n' I don't know what came over me." his voice was trembling as he lowered it to a whisper as he continued, "'n' when she told me she was the target, I became so pissed at everything, I beat all three of them without mercy."

Juvia placed her hands over her mouth to stifle the sobs that began to rise from her throat. "Gajeel, my dearest friend, Juvia must know..." Levy always felt a connection with the water mage, but was unaware that the Rain Woman had cherished her as a friend so strongly.

"I don't know! I just left them there and I've been standing here for who knows how damn long and the smell is still on me!"

"What Smell?" She questioned quietly. Forgetting about her friend's superior sense of smell.

"Her blood on my hands, you idiot! It's on my clothes, on my damn face! IT'S EVERYWHERE! IT WON'T GO AWAY!" Gajeel began screaming at his friend in the raining night trying to swim out of this horrible feeling but no matter what he kept sinking. His suffering was agonizing to Juvia's ears. The Dragonslayer leaned forward and rested his head on her shoulder to try and steady his trembling body. "She's haunting me, Juvia." He whispered shakily as he began to sob loudly into her shoulder.

Juvia slowly placed her arms around her guild mate in a comforting embrace knowing that there was nothing that would ease his spirit. For the first time in her friend's life he was feeling remorse for his actions. And just as she felt the greatest joy in her life knowing that someone close to her had found something as precious as love reminiscent of a fairy tale; her melancholy was so overwhelming when hearing of his loss that it spread onto the world around her as the rainfall fell harder and colder from the sky above. "Gajeel, my friend. I am so sorry," was all that she could muster to say as she let tears fall from her face without a single whimper. The two Phantoms mourned their friend in the rain with penitence for Gajeel's greatest sin. Juvia prayed in her heart that if there was any good magic in her rain that it could cleanse her confidante's sullied soul.

Levy observes what had unfolded before her hand holding the red ribbon until her skin on her knuckles felt that they would tear revealing the white bones within. Somehow she had discovered a strange magic that revealed this moment of the past that was impossible for her to have ever experienced. This was undoubtedly Gajeel's memory she had bore witness to, and it showed her how not only was he remorseful, he had obviously cared deeply for her, more so than the petite woman had believed. Slowly the world around her returned to shadows; the only light in the darkness being the red line of the celestial ribbon that had linked the two memories together.

Levy's eyes snapped open wide as she returned to the material world to explain to Makarov her discoveries. She turned to him and spoke with the utmost urgency in her voice, "Master Makarov, please if you decide to cast Fairy Law I beg you, for Mavis Vermilion's sake, spare him! Spare Gajeel!"

"Now, Child, what on Earthland has gotten into you?" Makarov said as he tried to calm her down after she suddenly came to. Placing a comforting hand on hers in her lap, he gently rubbed her shoulder as he used to do when she woke from nightmares and roars of thunder in the night as a child; when she lived in the guild hall with the other orphaned members of Fairy Tail too young to live on their own. "Would there be any chance that you found what you were looking for, my dear?" he asked after Levy had calmed herself.

She nodded before telling her guild master the details of her memory as well as the strange thread she had led her to Gajeel's own memory and what her conclusion of her investigation was.

Once she finished, Makarov placed a hand on his chin as he pondered the information Levy had given him. "Hmm, now that is peculiar, this thread you saw, what color was it?"

"It was a red unlike any shade or hue I had ever seen." Levy answered the old man trying to figure out what conclusion he was going to make at the end of this meeting.

"Well it seems you are right about the young man, my dear, as of this moment mister Gajeel will be unaffected by Fairy Law if I so happen to use it."

Surprised at the ease of Makarov's change of heart, Levy was wide eyed with questions and she demanded answers. "Wait! That's it!? That was all you needed to know!?"

As Makarov hopped down from his chair and strolled to the door, Levy realized that her shock may be mistook as being ungrateful, she lowered her head and apologized. "I'm sorry, Master, I meant no disrespect! I'm just...surprised."

Makarov smiled at his adopted granddaughter. It had never occurred to him until that moment how much of a kind, loving person she had grown to be.

"My dear, Love is a strange magic. Why there are some who believe that two souls who are destined to be together are two halves of one great spirit bound together by a red ribbon of Fate. So that no matter how many miles, or eons, or simply two warring guild factions, may separate them; they will always find each other. Who knows, maybe Fate will pull you two back together once all this nonsense is over. All I know is that your bond with him is so strong that your memories are being shared with one another. Not even the Dark Wizard Zeref himself had ever possessed a magic so strange and powerful."

And with those last words to the blunette, Makarov left the room and quietly closed the door behind him. Leaving Levy alone to digest the meaning of his final thoughts on Gajeel and the odd event that took place moments ago in her mind's eye. She gazed out of the bay window beside her bed and allowed the warm sunshine to blanket her in it's rays as she lay back down in her bed. Levy smiled with content that she not felt since her adventure in Dennish with the two Phantom Lord mages a few months before.

"I hope you're right, grandfather. I hope you're right."

She sighed deeply as sleep began to shroud her in darkness once more.


End file.
